133
FLIGHT,
1 February
1957
The author of this article is seen in the centre of the group above with h is senior Britannia Fleet executives and officers. From left to right: Mr.
D. E. Speigal, base engineer; Mr. D. J. McAllister, senior technical officer; Mr. E. J. Curwood, fleet engineer manager; Capt. W. B. Houston, fleet
manager; Capt. A. S. M. Rendall, flight superintendent; Capt. F. W. Walton, officer in charge of training; Capt. F. A. Taylor, flight captain.
BRITANNIA PRELUDE
Background to the Introduction of a New Airliner
By CAPTAIN W. B. HOUSTON, A.F.R.Ae.S., Fleet Manager, Britannias, B.O.A.C.
THE Romans called our country Britannia. Charles IIthought there ought to be a symbolic "Britannia" on ourcoins. He had a particularly attractive girl-friend at the
time called Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, and she waschosen as the model. No record remains, so far as we know, of
Barbara's vital statistics; but, undaunted, Doctor Russell ofBristol Aircraft has managed to produce another good-looking
Britannia, even though she has a sharp nose, a twelve-foot waist-line and a prominent rear end. This model is no hot-tempered
mistress of men but a gentle giant, submissive, tractable andkindly; or, in the words of one of our B.O.A.C. captains,
"... a very fast old lady."
The Corporation has put into service many aircraft types alreadywell tried by others, but the Britannia was raw from the makers.
Our task was another "Comet exercise." This was not just anotherpiston-engined aeroplane; it was new and revolutionary. B.E.A.
had ploughed a parallel furrow before us. We talked to them andflew in their Viscounts. We are indebted to them for their
unstinted help.
The Bristol Company produced a flying machine. We had toturn it into an operational airliner fit for passengers to fly in.
The writing of the operations manual was perhaps the majoroperational task. Every word in the book got there after its
justification had been proved. Every procedure, technique, emer-gency drill, chart and diagram found its place after months and
months of hard work and hard thinking by highly experiencedflying staff and technicians. A new, highly streamlined navigation
procedure based on that evolved for the Comet was worked out,tested on the route to Johannesburg and polished to perfection.
Characteristics of performance began to emerge. For instance, itwas found that the reduction in T.A.S. to achieve long-range
cruise was only 25 knots, whereas in a piston-engined aircraft suchas the Douglas DC-7C the loss is 50 to 60 kt. Thus inaccurate
wind forecasts are not quite so painful to the Britannia. We found,too, that the descent speed could be stepped up from 190 kt to 225
kt without affecting spar life. This will save about three minuteson each sector without using any more fuel.
Cabin service was worked out in detail by experienced cabincrews who gave the B.O.A.C.-takes-good-care-of-you treatment
to cabins full of "guinea-pig" staff. Many a good free meal hasbeen enjoyed in the process.
Much of the Bristols' overseas flying was done by our crews.This was a typical example of the mutually beneficial back-
scratching which has pervaded the project during the last three
ILLUSTRATED WITH "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS
TAKEN AT LONDON AIRPORT LAST WEEK